Sri Lanka's Labor Minister Dylan Pereira said Wednesday that there will be no ban on the travel of female domestic workers and laborers to Lebanon following banning their travel to Saudi Arabia.

“There will be no ban on the travel of female domestic workers and laborers to Lebanon,” the minister assured after meeting Lebanon's Labor Minister Salim Jreisati where talks focused on drafting a new agreement that will soon be signed regarding Sri Lankan labor rights.

The Lebanese army found on Friday a bomb in the neighborhood of Abi Samra in the northern city of Tripoli.

The bomb was located in a metal box which contained home-made nail bombs, two detonators and an explosive chemical matter, the army said in a communique.

Top Saudi officials have expressed their keenness on Lebanon and have encouraged continued cooperation among its different factions to preserve civil peace, Saudi Ambassador to Beirut Ali Awad Assiri said Friday.

Assiri denied that the officials discussed with Prime Minister Najib Miqati, who was in Riyadh last week to attend the third Arab Economic and Social Development Summit, the controversial electoral draft-law.

The public sector is expected to rise-up this month to press the government to implement a series of “rightful” demands as several syndicates are threatening to escalate their measures.

The union of taxi drivers will hold a meeting on Friday to take a crucial decision regarding carrying out an open-ended strike in February to protest the government's failure to cap rising gasoline prices, implementing a new transportation plan and modifying the current traffic law.

Sources close to President Michel Suleiman on Friday shrugged off criticism that he had called for holding this year's parliamentary elections based on the 1960 law.

In remarks to An Nahar daily, the sources said Suleiman wants the elections to be held on time. But as long as MPs haven't yet agreed on a new draft-law then the authorities are compelled to abide by the rules and deadlines of the 1960 law which adopts the Qada as a district based on a winner-takes-all system.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused on Thursday Iran and Hizbullah of playing an increasingly prominent role in the Syrian war.

The U.S. is "disturbed by increasing Iranian and Lebanese Hizbullah activities" in Syria, Clinton told reporters on the eve of her last day as secretary of state.

Security forces arrested the head of the Anti-Drug Bureau of the Internal Security Forces in the Bekaa and an officer, who are accused of blackmailing a Qatari detainee and his Lebanese wife.

According to al-Akhbar newspaper published on Friday, security forces raided the offices of the Anti-Drug Bureau in the Bekaa and arrested both suspects after obtaining information that they tried to blackmail the Qatari man to pay them $25,000.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday called for electing a senate representing the various Lebanese sects according to the Orthodox Gathering's proposal and a parliament based on small districts, in the first TV interview in almost a year.

In an initiative he launched during an interview on LBCI, Hariri said that a “real solution” for the concerns of Christians would be “holding elections on time under an electoral law based on small electoral districts -- which would ensure proper representation for all regions, groups and religious communities -- and creating a senate that represents all religions and sects in Lebanon as stipulated by the Taef Accord.”

Vice-President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan on Thursday called on the leaders of religious communities in Lebanon to form a committee to discuss the adoption of civil marriage in the country.

"An extensive study of civil marriage must be undertaken,” Qabalan stated during a meeting with a delegation of Lebanese student and youth organizations.

Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel on Thursday said French President Francois Hollande informed him of his interest in the ongoing debate in Lebanon over the electoral system, but noted that the French leader voiced concern that Lebanon might not “respect the constitutional deadlines.”

Gemayel was speaking during a press conference he held in Paris to wrap up a several-day visit to France during which he met with Hollande and former premier Saad Hariri.